Risk & Business Magazine Cal LeGrow Spring 2016 | Page 27

Uber, Airbnb, and 3D printing are all
examples of how technology can disrupt
an entire industry overnight. We can
all prepare for the age of disruption by
cultivating awareness, becoming more
agile and building the right internal
culture.

Marketing & Sales
The internet has turned the retail
industry upside down. Local companies
can now sell their products and services
around the world and international
corporations (like Amazon) can capture a
huge market share without having a store
front presence.

Visioning
Yogi Berra said it all when he stated “If
you don’t know where you are going you
will end up somewhere else.” Business
owners need to articulate a vision for the
future and develop a plan for how to get

there. This requires taking a break from
the day to day routine to develop a vision
and strategy for your future.

Succession planning
70% of business owners are set to retire
in the next 10 years. The vast majority of
people are counting on the sale of their
company to fund their retirement plans.

Exporting
According to Export Development
Canada, those who export products and
services are more innovative, productive,
profitable and risk averse. In this province,
and most of Canada, we have very small
domestic markets. To tap into the global
market, we need to encourage companies
to expand beyond our borders and take
advantage of these scaled economies.
The St. John’s Board of Trade is
developing a resilience initiative entitled

Bulletproofing your Business. The Board
will be holding a series of luncheons
and seminars on various topics that fall
under this theme including: marketing,
human resources, innovation, exporting,
visioning and succession planning. Each
of these topics will also be featured in
our bimonthly magazine through articles
written b